Mantle of Supremacy: The Skrytosphere Book 1

by T. Z. Leigh

  He screamed at the top of his lungs and punched the floor with both fists feeling hurt, angry, and hateful. The shockwave rippled outwards across the entire plateau. He could hear complaints shouted in the distance and the mounds had crumbled to the floor, dust not yet beginning to settle. He couldn’t find the strength within him to stand and surprised even himself as he punched the ground again and screamed in a full-blown rage. He stayed in a crouch on the floor, trying to somehow compose himself.

  “Sam!” April shouted as she ran to him, stepping over the rubble in her way. She laid a hand on his shoulder. “What happened?”

  He stood up slowly, chest still heaving, his body covered in sweat and eyes shiny from tears that might have fallen if she hadn’t come when she did. He peered at her. She looked seriously concerned, staring at him with her eyebrows knitted.

  “Are you alright?” she asked, taking hold of his hand.

  He threw his arms around her and held on tightly. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he said, still a little breathless.

  April looked at Nehaya. “What did you do to him?”

  “How I train my students is none of your concern. Go back to Hamal.”

  “How dare you...”

  “April, it’s okay, don’t worry. Let’s go; I’ve finished for today,” he said calmly.

  He towed her by the hand to their hut and she questioned him immediately.

  “What really happened, Sam? What did she do to make you so upset?”

  “She was saying all these things to make me angry. It worked.”

  “It worked at making you crazy. What the hell did she say?”

  “It’s not important. She was just doing what she’s supposed to. She said there was something holding me back, and she was right...I think I’ll do better now.”

  “That’s good. I guess.”

  He debated whether to tell April what Nehaya coaxed him with or not.

  To hell with it! “She said I was failing Qayto...then she mentioned Eva and I flipped out. I don’t know who told her. It must have been Sven.”

  April hated herself for the twinge of jealousy spreading over her heart. She was his girlfriend for over a year...and she was recently turned into a tesrar, for God’s sake! Just be there for him!

  She held him tightly. He put his arms around her too.

  “You’re amazing, you know that?” he murmured and kissed her softly behind her ear lobe.

  She didn’t feel like being his pick-me-up and drew back. “Listen, I’m gonna get back to training,” she said, stepping away. “Call me if you need me.”

  “I need you,” he replied.

  She regretted adding that last part, although she waited patiently with her arms crossed to hear what he needed her for.

  “I know what you’re thinking, April, and you’re wrong.”

  “What am I thinking?”

  “You’re thinking I’m using you as a rebound, when I’m not.”

  “Really?” she asked with an indignant lilt in her voice.

  “I’m not, I swear to you...when Eva turned, I was devastated. She was my first serious girlfriend and I liked her a lot. I was in love with her.”

  “Is this you convincing me you’re over her? Because you’re not doing a good job.”

  “I haven’t finished. A while ago, my mum told me not to get hung up on girls too young. It’s always romantic love at our age, like infatuation, not true love; the first is blinded, the second isn’t. Only now I see what she meant. Me and Eva...we really liked each other, and I thought I loved her. But looking back I realise how childish it was. I saw her like a queen, but maybe that was just the feelings talking. She was good to me but a bitch to everyone else except her friends. I couldn’t be with someone like that and I wouldn’t want to be. I’m sad about what happened to her, of course I am. But if I went back in time to the way things were, I wouldn’t be with her knowing what I know now. The grief I feel is over losing someone I cared about, nothing more.”

  “You finished?” she asked blandly, though her eyes lit up.

  “No, that was only the first part. The second part is that...I’ve never admitted this before, but I truly admire my parents’ relationship. They were husband and wife, but also best friends. Unless my dad was at work, I would always see them together; they were content just being in each other’s company. That’s what I want, too. A girl who I can be friends with and who will accept me the way I am...and I think I’ve already found her.”

  A smile tugged on one corner of her lips. “You’ve thought a lot about this, haven’t you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, what’s this girl’s name? I might have to knock her out.”

  He laughed as he pulled her closer, noting that her eyes skimmed his chest as she came nearer. He wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “Did me telling you this make you feel awkward?”

  “Of course not.”

  Her hands were on his shoulders and her fingers twitched violently over their curves. If she wasn’t staring at him blankly, he would’ve assumed she was struggling to stop herself from caressing them.

  “Good. All that talk was kinda out of nowhere. I didn’t mean to spring it on you, April. I just wanted you to know how I feel.”

  Her gaze flicked down, and he thought he did in fact create an awkward situation. His lips parted to speak, but when she peered into his eyes again, her gaze was filled with something abundantly clear that heated him from head to toe…lust.

  She looked at his body as she slid her hands inwards to his chest. Then downwards over his stomach gripping the waistband of his trousers tight enough that their hips gently bumped together, her fingers lighting a fire on his abdomen. His heart skipped a beat and his breaths were quick and shallow.

  “Tell me,” she said in a sultry voice, looking into his eyes, “how much work have you had done to look so completely flawless?”

  His stomach hitched as he laughed under his breath. No girl had ever used his own line on him before...or made his body feel so alive and his brain feel so dead that he couldn’t think clearly, simultaneously.

  “You think you’re so slick, don’t you?” he returned, as evenly as possible.

  She moved her face close to his. “No more talking,” she whispered and kissed him, moving her hands up his arms to the back of his head.

  Someone cleared their throat loudly and they broke apart.

  “I came to see what happened, as you never resumed your training.”

  “Hamal, I’m sorry. I’m coming. Just give me a minute, please.”

  “Fine.”

  After Hamal left, she sighed. “I have to go.”

  “What if I still need you?”

  She quirked an eyebrow. “I’m sure whatever you need me for can wait,” she murmured, kissing him again quickly before leaving.

  He stared at the doorway for too long, willing her to appear. When she didn’t, he went to look for Nehaya and found her asleep underneath a tree, its huge leaves shading her from the sun. He had never realised how old she really was. He could see the loose, wrinkled skin, the naturally turned down mouth from a life of frowning and a tired, slumped posture indicating she needed a retirement from training skryts.

  “Nehaya!” he called out.

  She jerked awake and looked at him through squinted eyes.

  “Oh, it’s you, softie. You ready to stop being a wimp?”

  “Yes.”

  His affirmation seemed to surprise her enough that she opened her eyes fully.

  “Sit down.”

  “Are you gonna have a talk with me about overcoming obstacles?” he asked as he sat.

  “No...you try being over three hundred years old and standing on awakening. I can break bodies without a second thought, but I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, believe me. Give me ten minutes.”

  Sven told them to expect to meet someone hundreds of years old, but it still felt like a blow to the head. He smiled anyway. He liked seeing this other side of her, t
he vulnerable side that showed she wasn’t just an emotionless fighting machine.

  “How did you know that making me angry would work?” he asked.

  “I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you’ve been alive. I can read the signs.”

  “Signs of what?”

  “Whatever was stopping you from letting go. Everyone has their own problems to deal with. It’s up to the student to become aware of and overcome them in order to reach their full potential.”

  “I think I didn’t grieve fully for Eva...that’s why when you spoke about her, I snapped. Or rather I didn’t have time to grieve, because we’ve been on the run nearly the whole time we’ve been here.”

  “I never meant for you to tell me your problems. I don’t want to hear your life story.”

  “I don’t care, I’m telling you anyway. I also wanted to tell April how I feel about her, but I was scared she would act differently if she didn’t feel the same way. These things, plus everything else we must deal with trying to save the world, were getting me down. I feel so much better, so thanks.”

  “Are you done with your sappy story?”

  “Yes.”

  “Great, because I was about to be sick. I’m glad you’ve broken through. Are you ready to do some real training now?”

  “I am.”

  “Excellent. Tomorrow, we travel down the hill so you can learn how to be a true Mezat.”

  April entered the hut where she had her training sessions with Hamal to find another man there.

  “Who’s this?”

  “This is Paleo. He has offered to be your victim for today.”

  “That sounds horrible.”

  “It doesn’t matter how it sounds. In a battle, your opponents will not be lenient or sympathetic. Get used to the idea.”

  She sat on a chair opposite Paleo. “I don’t know what he’s going to tell me to do, but I apologise in advance.”

  “It’s fine,” he replied, smiling.

  “Forcing an illusion into an opponent’s mind takes concentration. You will have to maintain your shield while doing it which, as you will see, is harder than you think. We will start with the Illusion of Fear. You already know how to read emotions. Find what he is afraid of and keep that in your mind.”

  She closed her eyes.

  “Keep your eyes open. In a conflict, you will not have the luxury of being able to have them closed. You must be aware of everything that is going on around you.”

  She stared at Paleo until her vision doubled, then tripled, then quadrupled, so he was only a blur. In the middle of the haze appeared a moving image of the ocean as the tide came in. Then another of him screaming as he drowned.

  “You live on the coast and you’re afraid of water?”

  His eyes went wide and his face turned red. “I’ve never been down the hill that side, and I won’t need to, so it doesn’t matter.”

  “April, you’re not supposed to voice the fears as you see them. The illusion is only effective when the subject is unprepared. Remember your shield, it’s weakening. Now find another fear and for everyone’s sake, don’t say a word!”

  She stared at Paleo again until her vision clouded. She saw him with a woman and a small child; his family. April smiled, seeing how happy they looked, although the image that followed changed the smile into a frown. His wife and child, lying dead and bloody on the floor. She took a sharp intake of breath.

  “You’ve found one, now remember what I showed you when you thought of your mother. Project that in his mind.”

  “I can’t. I couldn’t do that.”

  “You have to learn. Do it now!”

  She envisioned his wife and child, but not on a cliff; his fear of water was engraved on her brain, so they were on a boat. Paleo stood at the top of the hill, watching his family being dragged to the edge of the ship.

  He screamed out, “Relana! I’m coming!”

  “Don’t break the illusion. Follow it through,” Hamal told her.

  “I can’t.”

  She had tears in her eyes, hearing him cry as he screamed to his invisible family.

  “I’m coming! Don’t worry, I’m coming!”

  His voice echoed around the hut, just before she heard a thud against one of the walls. He was running towards the water in her vision. It must have taken all his mental strength to race towards his fear, or he just loved them that much more than himself. When he reached the ocean and was ready to start swimming, the men on the boat threw his wife and child overboard.

  “No! Please!” he yelled, crying as they disappeared beneath the water.

  “You can stop now,” Hamal said.

  She let her mind go blank and her vision cleared. Paleo was in a corner on his knees, his hands covering his face.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry...” she cried.

  “It’s fine,” he whimpered, though it clearly wasn’t. “I’m going to leave now. I’m sorry.”

  He rushed out with his head down and she whirled around in rage.

  “How could you make me do that, Hamal?”

  “It’s necessary for your training.”

  “Don’t give me that bullshit! If you want me to practice on anyone, it’ll be you from now on! Don’t ever ask me to do that to an innocent skryt again!”

  She ran out with misty eyes and didn’t know where she was running to, just far away from the place where she had emotionally tortured Paleo. She heard Sam’s voice calling her and fell to the ground, instantly too weak to take another step. She felt him hold her by the shoulders and gently shake her, so she looked at him.

  “April, what’s wrong?”

  She wrapped her arms around him and cried into his neck, suddenly wondering if he would despise her for what she had done.

  But even if he didn’t hate her, she hated herself.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  It was evening and the four of them were sitting by the river. Sam had his arm around April and she was leaning on him. She had just finished explaining to Jamie and Zachery what had happened earlier.

  “I know you feel terrible, April, but honestly, you shouldn’t be so upset about it. You did what you had to.”

  “Zachery, how can you say that? I made him watch his family being murdered.”

  “Just hear me out. Paleo offered his help, so he must have known what sort of thing was involved. Plus, you now know how to do the Illusion of Fear. Don’t think of what you did today. Think of the skryts who would die in the war to come if you didn’t have a handle on your abilities. If families were about to be killed and that illusion had to be used on their attackers, would you even think twice?”

  She mulled it over. “No, I wouldn’t,” she admitted, for the first time in hours feeling some weight lifting from her shoulders. “But I would still hate myself for it.”

  “We all will,” Sam added. “None of us want to inflict pain, whether physical or mental, on anyone. But we will have to. Our grandparents are good skryts, but they fight without question when it comes down to protecting innocents. And we will too.”

  “Let’s hope I can fight by then,” Jamie said.

  “Don’t tell me you can’t speed run yet?” April asked, raising her eyebrows. “Maybe you have a mental block or something. Should I try and read your emotions to see if I can help?”

  “You can try. I’m not sure what good it will do. I don’t feel like there’s any block.”

  “You wouldn’t, though, would you? Come and sit opposite me.”

  Jamie obeyed, shutting her eyes once she had sat down.

  “Okay...you’re scared of heights...spiders...fighting in the war, which I’m sure all of us are and...” She broke off and smiled. “...losing Zachery, us two and Sven.”

  “You’re good,” Jamie said.

  “Thanks…now what makes you happy...Zachery, no surprise there, reading books and picnics on a warm day. You’re worried about the marriage...and if you will develop your super-speed in time. You’re angry with Irisena for what
they’re doing. You also hate the guards who beat you up in prison.” All their faces hitched in one way or another when April mentioned her time in prison. “Hang on...you have repressed, conflicted feelings about being in prison. You wanna talk about it?”

  “Not right now...”

  “Okay. You also have repressed, confused memories of...”

  She didn’t speak for a minute, then gasped in shock.

  “What is it?” Jamie asked, worry laced in her voice.

  “...you were young...you woke up because you heard your parents arguing. You went downstairs. Your mom was angry with your dad for acting crazy and having weird people in the house, then your mom went back upstairs and slammed the door. You wanted to see who was there, so you peeked into the sitting room, and the people were...”

  April couldn’t continue. She retreated from the visions until she could see Jamie clearly. Jamie opened her eyes and they widened when she saw April’s face.

  “What is it?” Jamie asked.

  “…our parents. Your dad, my mom, Sam’s dad, and Zachery’s mom. My mom mentioned Irisena and Sam’s dad spoke about a key.”

  “Wait, so they...” Jamie squeaked.

  April nodded. “They knew. About all of it.”

  “But that’s impossible,” Zachery insisted. “My mum died when I was a baby. How could she have been at Jamie’s house? If Jamie could go downstairs and understand what they were saying, she must have been at least three years old. I think you’re mistaken.”

  April chewed on her lip. “What if she ran away because Irisena found her, like my mom did?”

  “It’s possible,” Sam mused, “but seems very unlikely. Should we talk to Sven?”

  April frowned. “What would he be able to tell us? According to him, they died when they died, simple.”

  “I think we should tell him anyway,” Jamie suggested. “He might have an idea or an explanation at least.”

  “You all go to the hut. I’ll tell Sven I want to speak to him in private. It’s probably best if no one else hears about this yet,” Zachery advised.

  April knew he was talking about her grandfather. The idea didn’t sit comfortably with her, but she agreed with him.